Study of Normal Egyptian cervical Spinal Canal Using Different Radiological Modalit

Abstract

Introduction: Decline in the size of Spinal canal would increase chance of compression of important structures and might lead to many symptoms including neck pain, and radiculopathy. Diagnosis of Spinal stenosis based on clinical findings along with the radiological assessing of the canal size measuring antero-posterior diameter and crosssectional area which are different for each population. Many factors suggested affecting the spinal canal diameters such as race, sex, height and age which is still a controversial factor. Aim of the work: The present study carried out to provide normal values of the cervical spinal canal dimensions in male Egyptian population and to evaluate the effect of aging. Subjects and methods: MRI of 24 and CT of 32 male Egyptian subjects in different ages from 20 to 70 years. The population divided into three age groups (20-39 years, 40-59 years and 60 years and older). For each age group; Mid-sagittal antro-posterior diameter and Cross sectional area was measured from C2-C7. Results: Mean values of the cervical canal diameters found to be widely variable fromC2 to C7, and normal diameters defined as antero-posterior (APD) ranged (from 9.60to20mm), and (from 11.2to19.5mm) in CT and MRI respectively. Mid-sagittal antero-posterior canal diameter and Cross sectional area, decreased steadily with age at all levels. Conclusion: Mean values for the cervical canal diameters decreased steadily at all levels with increase in age.